Race Date: Saturday 6th July 2019

6^th July saw the first Loxley Lash event making use of Forge Lane Secondary School’s cycle track and organised by Sheffield RC.

The series offers the opportunity of a fast, RunBritain official 5k dash with goal-orientated heats and without the threat of wandering canines or dodging prams at your parkrun of choice.

There are some contradictions present though with questions raised as to whether the location actually resides in Stannington not Loxley and whether the absence of alcohol means that it can’t constitute a ‘lash’.

Nonetheless three Striders toed the line. Chris Guy and Richard Carter raced their five sinuous laps in race two for those aiming for sub twenty minute times. In a competitive race with the lead changing regularly, Chris charged round in 18:19 making good use of the company around him. Richard was somewhat caught in ‘no-man’s land’ but fought valiantly to come home with a pain-etched face and a time of 19:05.

I raced in the third and final heat – those aiming for under 1,020 seconds. In the moments before racing, a fellow competitor nervously noted that we had ‘brought knives to a gunfight’ in not sporting the infamous Nike 4%’s like two of the racers…

The pace was hot from the beginning, but after being unceremoniously dropped from the pack, I dug in for 17:26 with Matt Craig of Hallamshire Harriers the fastest runner of the day breaking the mythical 1,000 second barrier. Never missing the opportunity to berate GPS, post-race discussion seemed to centre around the decision to position the finish line about a tenth of a mile after the start line due to an SRC trial suggesting the 1k loop is actually short. Naturally, this led to the majority of the field recording the route as more like 3.2 miles/5.1k!

For those interested, race two in the series is Saturday 3rd of August with the finale in the evening of Friday 31st August. Here’s to the lash!

Striders Results: